Weird Images on pictures

I took some pictures at the zoo and when I was looking at them I had some weird spots that I don't know what they are. Can someone help me identify theses and tell me how to prevent it from happening again? I am not what I would call even an amateur photographer but I do want good pictures. I'm what I would call a vacationer photographer. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Here's a link to my camera. (like I said, not top end) http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_US/pd/Zi6_Pocket_Video_Camera/productID.145116700

Yes. No doubt. That's lens flare.
Sometimes you can even see it happen in the viewfinder (provided you look through one and not onto the display on the back of the camera?), and you can try to block it out by trying to give some shade with the back of your left hand. But be careful not to include your hand in the photo as such !
Or a lens hood can help when you mean to shoot against the sun and want to avoid getting lens flare. I doubt there are lens hoods for compact cameras, though.

Well , I have to say I agree with all of you. I actually posted this on someone elses behalf and he is convinced that these are not flares but some kind of orb or spirit or something. Here is what he had to say about the lens flare idea. I will just copy and paste his reply but remember it is not me saying this....

one of the replies
It's lens flare caused by the way the direct sun is hitting the lens of the camera. To prevent it, you probably would have had to just shoot from a different angle.
camera was at dif angles first picture= no sun to cause flare and as i said flare from lens pictures do not look like this one bit.i challenge anybody to show me a lens flare picture like these orbs,they are almost solid in apearance unlike lens flare and also unlike lens flare they have a grain inside them like all orbs i see on the net
as for the sun it is not hard to see that the shadows of the trees are pointing away..
i love a good debate,,,, but come on give me some solid facts hehe!!!!

Edit: Also, shadows in every picture indicate either facing directly towards the sun (the first 2 you posted), or with the sun to the side (to the right of the camera in the 3rd).That's exactly when lens flare occurs, and lens flare is exactly what this looks like. Your friend can believe and argue that they're orbs or spirits all he wants, but it's lens flare.

Ah. One of those "orbs" believers then... well, there's little use "coming with hard facts" who has his mind firmly set on this belief... sorry.

Actually what I'm beginning to believe is that these spots are a combination of lens flare and the fact that he photographed through glass, with his own camera lens reflecting in the glass. Hence the roundness to some of those dots. We can actually see his lens here!

Tell him nobody can produce those same results because nobody else is stupid enough to shoot pictures (and expect any decent result) with a cheapo flash video camera.

If you guys click the link...this wasn't even taken with a real camera..it is one of those cheap flash pocket video camcorder things.

The horribly small and subpar quality lens combined with shooting toward the sun creates this effect. I don't know what he is talking about with the shadows.....you can clearly see the shadows from the trees coming toward the camera, showing that the sun is behind them (facing the camera).